Professional Golfers' Association (Great Britain & Ireland)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Professional Golfers' Association is the professional body which represents the interests of teaching and club golf professionals in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is just one of many PGAs around the world, but like British organisations in several other sports, it has no territorial designation in its name because it was the first in the world to be founded.
The Professional Golfers' Association was established in 1901. For many years it was a combined organisation for club professionals and tournament professionals, but when the two branches of the golfing profession diverged due to the increasing financial rewards available to leading tournament golfers, it split in two. A separate Tournament Division with its headquarters at Wentworth Club was established in the 1970s, and in 1984 this became the independent PGA European Tour.
The Association is based at The De Vere Belfry in central England and has a membership of over five thousand professionals. Its activities include the training of assistant professionals and the continuing education of members; the organisation of golf tournaments, including tournaments for its members and the Ryder Cup; the promotion of pro-am golf tournaments and amateur golf, which provide work for its members; and the promotion of junior golf.
The PGA is divided into seven regions and a women's section, each of which has its own offices and organises its own tournaments:
- East Region (of England)
- Midlands Region (of England)
- North Region (Northern England, North Wales and the Isle of Man)
- South Region (Southern England and the Channel Islands)
- West Region (West of England and South Wales)
- Scotland
- Irish Region (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland)
- WPGA (covers the whole of the British Isles)
For precise details of which counties fall into each of the first five regions see this index on the official site.
All students who go through the 3 year course and succeed in passing the comprehensive examinations at the end of that period are then known as PGA Professional Golfers and are able to teach anywhere in the world. The British Professional Golfers Association qualification is recognised as the most prestigious qualification of its kind in the World.
There is a small amount of competition in Europe to this qualification from a body known as the European Golf Teaching Federation (EGFT). The EGTF was established in the 1990s mainly to cater for people wishing to switch to golf coaching as a second career. It offers seven day intensive courses, and has less stringent playing ability requirements than the PGA.
